More than 1500 Perth homes without power as unplanned outages hit again

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More than 8000 Perth homes are without power this evening after unplanned outages, with the worst affected areas in the Swan Valley and Hills.

As of 7.30pm it was still 30C in the Swan Valley and 31C at Gooseberry Hill.

It comes after 1500 households sweltered through the hottest Perth day since 2016 (42.1C) without relief from air-conditioning or fans.

It was the second day in a row that Hills homes were affected by unplanned outages, after about 2000 customers were without power yesterday. A further 1500 homes around the city also lost power for big chunks of yesterday’s 40.4C.

It is unknown when Western Power technicians will be able to restore electricity to these households.

A Western Power spokesman said emergency response crews were looking into the cause of the power outage.

“Our crews’ standard operating procedures have been changed for today because the area is in a total fire ban area,” he said.

“DFES personnel are assisting our line crews to access network that runs through bush and forested areas due to vehicle movement bans being in place as well.

“Our crews will still be able to repair any damage that is found and prepare the network to restore power, but the total fire ban in the area means that we will have to wait for the fire index to fall to a safe level.”

He said network operations were looking for options to back feed power in the affected area but it was proving difficult given some of the network in the area crosses bushland and the fire ban prevents Western Power from trying to re-energise the line.

“This means that full restoration of power may not be possible until later this evening,” he said.

“We are sincerely sorry for the frustration that this unplanned outage is having on such a hot day.

“We will continue to work towards restoring power to you as quickly as possible under the restrictions that are in place for today.”

A further 5000 households around Swan View, Midland and the Swan Valley are also without power. Their homes are likely to be back online about 10.30pm.

About 130 people in Victoria Park have lost power but they are likely to see relief about 4.30pm.

However, 171 homes in South Guildford, High Wycombe and Guildford will be without power until about 9pm. This is down from about 544 homes initially affected.